son, and from the
_Coup d'Etat_ (which he saw) to Browning. But his distinction of the
poetical art of Wordsworth and that of these other poets as "pure,
ornate, and grotesque" will suffice to show his standpoint, which was a
sort of middle place between the classical and the Romantic. Bagehot
wrote well, and possessed a most keen intelligence. Also to be classed
here are Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh, the very agreeable author of _Horae
Subsecivae_, and James Hannay, a brilliant journalist, a novelist of some
merit and an essayist of more, and author of _A Course of English
Literature_ which, though a little popular and desultory, is full of
sense and stimulus.

Most popular of all at the time was Sir Arthur Helps (1813-75), a
country gentleman of some means and of the usual education, who took to
a mixed life of official and literary work, did some useful work in
regard to Spanish-American history, but acquired most popularity by a
series of dialogues, mostly occupied by ethical and aesthetic criticism,
called _Friends in Council_. This contains plenty of knowledge of books,
touches of wit and humour, a satisfactory standard of morals and
manners, a certain effort at philosophy, but suffers from the
limitations of its date. In different ways enough--for he was as quiet
as the other was showy--Helps was the counterpart of Kinglake, as
exhibiting a certain stage in the progress of English culture during the
middle of the century--a stage in which the Briton was considerably more
alive to foreign things than he had been, had enlarged his sphere in
many ways, and was at least striving to be cosmopolitan, but had lost
insular strength without acquiring Continental suppleness.

Of the literary critic who attracted most public attention during this
period,--the late Mr. Matthew Arnold,--considerable mention has already
been made in dealing with his poetry, and biographical details must be
looked for there. It will be remembered that Mr. Arnold was not very
early a popular writer either as poet or prose-man, that his poetical
exercises preceded by a good deal his prose, and that these latter were,
if not determined, largely influenced by his appointment to the
Professorship of Poetry at Oxford. He began, however, towards the end of
the fifties and the beginning of the sixties, to be much noticed, not
merely as the deliverer of lectures, but as the contributor of essays of
an exceedingly novel, piquant, and provocative kind; an